Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
by cleotheo
Summary: Hermione takes her two children to visit with her parents in the run up to Christmas, but she soon regrets leaving her father in charge when he give Scorpius an unforgettable Christmas decoration. Festive, family based one shot.


**A/N -Another fun, family filled festive one shot. Enjoy!**

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Hermione Malfoy bundled her two children into their winter gear as she prepared to take them to visit her parents for the day. Two year old, Lyra, happily let Hermione pull on her coat, boots, hat, scarf and gloves, but five year old Scorpius was more reluctant to get wrapped up.

"Mum, I'm not a baby," Scorpius whined, pulling at the scarf Hermione had wrapped around his neck. "I don't need to wear this junk."

"Junk?" Hermione arched an eyebrow at her son. "Winter clothing is not junk, it's a necessity. I'll be wearing my coat and scarf."

"But you're a girl," Scorpius protested. "I'm a boy, and I'm tough. Dad never wears this stuff."

"He does when it's cold," Hermione argued, making a mental note to make sure Draco was fully wrapped up next time they were out with Scorpius.

"But it's not cold," Scorpius muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but didn't bother arguing with her son. He was a stubborn little thing, and despite the fact it had just turned December and there was a definite chill in the air, he would claim it was red hot just to prove a point. Even so, Hermione refused to let Scorpius leave the house without his winter clothes, so in the end the five year old gave in and reluctantly let Hermione wrap him up, all the time muttering under his breath.

When Scorpius was finally ready, Hermione put her own coat on, and grabbing her bag and the children she ushered them out of the front door. With both children in her grasp, Hermione apparated them to the outskirts of the small town where her parents lived. She could have just apparated them directly into her parents' house, but Hermione didn't like to do that, plus the walk to their house was always pleasant and it was good for the children to have some fresh air.

While heading to her parents' house, Hermione spotted a few signs advertising a Christmas market in the town centre. Wondering if there was anything worth visiting the market for, Hermione made a note to ask her mother. It might be worth popping by the market before they went home, or better yet she might be able to leave the children with her parents and head down to the market by herself.

"Look, there's grandpa," Scorpius cried, waving happily when they turned the corner into the street where Hermione's parents lived and found Richard Granger in the front garden.

Hermione let go of Scorpius's hand and watched him carefully as he flew down the street and into his grandparents' garden. By the time Hermione and Lyra reached the Grangers house, Hermione's mother, Jean, had appeared in the front doorway, and Scorpius had shed his hat, gloves and scarf over the front garden as he embraced his grandparents.

"Scorpius, what have I told you about dropping your clothes over the floor?" Hermione tutted, letting Lyra run to her grandfather, as she picked up her son's discarded belongings as she passed.

"Can't remember," Scorpius answered with a cheeky grin as he yanked down the zipper on his coat and barrelled into the house, closely followed by Richard and Lyra.

"Give me strength, that boy is a nightmare," Hermione muttered to her mother as she greeted her.

"He's certainly a character," Jean laughed. "But he has a good heart. He's just a bit mischievous."

"I should have expected it really," Hermione said. "Draco can be a handful at times as well."

"All men can be a handful," Jean said wisely. "Although Draco's one of the good ones, he thinks the world of you and the kids."

"He does," Hermione agreed with a smile. She'd never doubted Draco's love for her or the children, and she knew that family was the most important thing to her husband.

"Speaking of Draco, where is my lovely son-in-law?" Jean asked.

"Working," Hermione replied. "There's some crisis at one of the potions labs the business owns. He and Lucius went off to deal with it first thing this morning."

"So you can stay for a while?" Jean checked.

"We can stay all day if you can handle Scorpius," Hermione replied.

"Your father has plans to keep him busy," Jean said. "Come into the front room."

Hermione followed her mother into the front room, where she was brought to a standstill by the sight of a giant Christmas tree, the top almost brushing the ceiling, in the corner of the room. Stacked around the tree were boxes and bags stuffed with lights, tinsel, decorations, and other things to turn the Grangers front room into a winter wonderland. Scorpius and Lyra were already poking around in the boxes and Richard was grinning happily at his grandchildren.

"Wow Dad, that's a big tree," Hermione remarked. Her father had always gone all out at Christmas when it came to decorations, but she couldn't recall ever having a tree so big it almost reached the ceiling.

"It's the very best I could find," Richard said with a proud grin.

"It's going to take a lot of decorating," Hermione said.

"Which is why I've got my two Christmas helpers," Richard said, patting Scorpius and Lyra on their heads. "Who wants to be Grandpa's helpful Christmas Elves?"

"I do," Scorpius cried.

"And me," Lyra added, almost jumping up and down on her little toes.

Still grinning Richard dove into one of the bags and pulled out two green elf hats. Settling one on Scorpius's head, he then put the other one on Lyra's soft blond curls. Giggling happily, Lyra swung her head from side to side, making the little bell on the end of her hat jingle merrily.

"I was thinking that we should leave these three to it and go down to the Christmas market," Jean said to Hermione as Richard got Scorpius and Lyra to start unpacking bags and boxes.

"Will you be okay with them both, Dad?" Hermione asked.

"We'll be fine," Richard assured his daughter, giving her a smile. "You two go and have fun. We've got some decorating to do."

"Okay," Hermione said, agreeing to accompany her mother to the market. "You two by good for Grandpa," she ordered her children as she gave them both kisses goodbye.

"We will," Scorpius vowed as he brushed away the kiss Hermione had planted on his cheek.

Leaving her children to keep themselves busy helping their grandfather decorate the Christmas tree, Hermione pulled her coat back on and she and her mother headed to the Christmas market.

Hermione thoroughly enjoyed the trip and she ended up buying quite a few bits and pieces for Christmas. She didn't even feel that guilty for being out a couple of hours as she knew her father and the children had a lot of work ahead of them. To be honest neither Hermione nor Jean expected the trio to be finished when they returned home, so they got a pleasant surprise when they found the tree completely decorated.

"Wow, you three have been busy," Jean remarked. Not only was the tree fully decorated, but the rest of the room was packed with little Christmas trinkets and decorations.

"Where's Lyra?" Hermione asked, scouring the room and finding no sign of her two year old. Scorpius was sitting on the floor, neatly arranging the presents under the Christmas tree, but Lyra wasn't with him.

"The poor dear crashed out," Richard said with an affectionate chuckle. "She's asleep behind the sofa."

"Behind the sofa?" Hermione queried.

Moving over to her parents' large dark brown sofa, she peered over the back and found her father had neatly packed away all the decorations they hadn't used. At first Hermione didn't see Lyra, but then she spotted her lying curled up fast asleep in a box of tinsel.

"That's so adorable," Jean whispered, joining Hermione in peering over the back of the sofa. "I remember when you were little and you would fall asleep in strange places like that."

"Can it get much stranger than falling asleep in a box of tinsel?" Hermione asked in amusement.

"You once curled up in the cat bed with the cat," Jean said. "I also once found you fast asleep under your bed."

"I still say a box if tinsel is stranger," Hermione muttered. "How did I end up with such weird kids?"

"Hey Mum, look what Grandpa gave me," Scorpius called, grabbing his mother's attention from his sleeping sister.

Hermione turned back to Scorpius to find her five year old had finished tidying the presents under the Christmas tree. He was now standing beside the coffee table, holding up a cartoon Christmas tree. Once he was sure Hermione had seen the tree, he placed it back down on the table and pressed one of its feet. Immediately the tree lit up and began to dance as the song 'Rocking around the Christmas Tree', began to play. Scorpius also began to sing, loudly and off key, as he danced around the front room.

"Isn't that a joy," Hermione said with a fake smile as the song ended and the noise stopped. She liked Christmas decorations, but she preferred the ones that didn't make a noise.

"And it's all mine," Scorpius said, pressing the tree and setting it off again.

"What do you mean, it's yours?" Hermione called over the noise of the tree.

"Grandpa gave it to me," Scorpius called back as he continued to dance around the room.

"As in, you're bringing it home?" Hermione questioned in horror.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I can get a new one," Richard said as Scorpius confirmed the tree was going home with him.

"That wasn't what I was worried about," Hermione replied. "Why have you given Scorpius the tree?"

"He loves it so much," Richard said with a shrug.

"So I see," Hermione said through gritted teeth as Scorpius set the tree off singing yet again. "He's going to keep playing with that damn thing over and over again. It's going to drive us up the wall."

"Nonsense," Richard tutted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's a great little tree. It'll brighten your house up a treat."

"It'll lead to murder," Hermione predicted. "Draco will hate it."

"I'm sure he won't," Richard said.

"I'm sure he will," Hermione countered. "Are you sure you don't want to keep it here? Scorpius can play with it when he visits."

"I've already promised Scorpius he can have it, so if you want to say no, you'll have to do it," Richard said. "I won't break my grandson's heart."

"I'm sure it won't break his heart," Hermione muttered with a roll of her eyes.

She waited until the tree had finished singing, and before Scorpius pressed its foot again, she pounced and tried to convince her son that he should leave the tree at his grandparents' house. Unfortunately, Scorpius had set his heart on taking the tree home, and nothing Hermione could say would persuade him that it was better of staying with Richard and Jean. In the end, Hermione realised she had two choices. She could refuse to take the tree with them, and then Scorpius would be upset and angry with her, or she could take it with them and hope that her son tired of it in a few days' times.

"Fine, you can take the tree," Hermione conceded with a sigh.

"Yeah, Mum," Scorpius cheered, setting the tree off yet again as he began to sing and dance once again.

Unsurprisingly all the noise had woken Lyra, and she emerged from behind the sofa with strands of tinsel stuck all over her clothes and hair. As she joined Scorpius in the dancing, Hermione tried to pluck bits of the stray tinsel off her, but in the end she gave in and decided she wash the tinsel off when Lyra had her bath that evening.

Hermione and the children stayed at her parents for another couple of hours, and Hermione had hoped that by the time they were ready to go home, Scorpius would have forgotten about his Christmas tree. However, she wasn't that lucky and Scorpius had the tree tucked safely under his arm when they went home. Once they were home, Scorpius placed the tree on the coffee table in the front room, and once again started to set it off so he could dance and sing along to it.

By the time Draco arrived home, Hermione was about ready to throw the damn tree into the fire. Every couple of minutes, Scorpius would set it off and he'd even started to teach Lyra the words so she could sing along as well. Hermione was hoping that Draco's arrival would put an end to the tree as Scorpius would be too busy with his father to think about the tree. But yet again, Hermione was disappointed as instead of forgetting the tree, Scorpius was even more eager to play with it and show off what he'd gotten off his grandfather.

"You cannot be serious," Draco muttered to Hermione as Scorpius and Lyra played with the Christmas tree. "Why would your father do that to us? Do he hate us?"

"I'm beginning to think so," Hermione replied, feeling a headache brewing from the repeated playing of the tree.

"Do you think we can get rid of it tonight when they're in bed?" Draco asked.

"And what would you say in the morning when they're looking for it?" Hermione questioned.

"Santa's taken it back to the North Pole," Draco suggested with a shrug.

"But Santa didn't give it to Scorpius, my dad did," Hermione argued. "Believe me, if I thought we could get rid of it, I would have already tried. I just can't see a way of disposing of it without having two devastated children on our hands."

"Maybe we can just shut it up," Draco said, slyly pulling his wand from his pocket.

Hermione watched as Draco pointed his wand to the Christmas tree and muttered a spell to silence it. Since the tree was in the middle of a song, the silence was noticeable and both Scorpius and Lyra let out disappointed cries. Scorpius shook the tree to try and get it to work again, and when that didn't help, Lyra burst out into loud sobs.

"Dad help," Scorpius cried, shoving the tree into Draco's hands as Lyra ran over to Hermione and buried her head in her lap as she continued to cry.

"I think it's broke, Scorpius," Draco said, feigning concern.

"Fix it," Scorpius demanded, his grey eyes filling with tears.

Draco turned to his wife, silently asking her what he should do. They may have their silence, but Lyra was already crying and Scorpius was on the verge of tears. By not fixing the tree, they would have two upset children, so they had to decide what mattered more, their sanity or their children's happiness.

"Time to be a hero, Draco," Hermione said.

"You sure?" Draco checked.

Hermione looked at her two upset children, before nodding her head. "I'm sure."

Picking his wand back up, Draco silently broke the spell he'd previously cast on the tree. Handing the tree back to Scorpius, he told his son to check it to see if it was working. When Scorpius put the tree back on the table and pressed it'd foot, he let out a cry of joy when it began to sing and dance again. At Hermione's side, Lyra lifted her tear stained face and turned back to the tree.

"It's back," she cheered as she ran over to join her brother.

"Yeah, it's back," Draco muttered sarcastically. "Next time I see your father, I'm going to kill him," he whispered to his wife.

"Join the queue," Hermione replied with a rueful smile. "But look at how happy it makes the kids."

Turning back to Scorpius and Lyra, who were now both laughing and having fun, Draco had to admit his wife was right. The dancing, singing Christmas tree might have been the most annoying thing Draco had ever seen, but it had enchanted the children. It looked like he and Hermione would just have to grin and bear the noise, and thank their lucky stars that Christmas was just a few weeks away and then they could get rid of the tree. Unless of course, Scorpius wanted it back out next year, but that was a problem for another year. For now, Draco was just focused on reaching the end of the year without going stir crazy and killing his father-in-law.

 **The End.**


End file.
